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Over Spray
Book Review
Book Description from the publisher
Overspray is the conclusive account of the rise of airbrush art, and of the equally bright and glossy Los Angeles culture alongside which it came to prominence in the 1970s. Inspired by surf graphics, psychedelia and the slick shine of Hollywood, a generation of young artists began to make every lip and palm tree glisten, and every record cover shine. Fueled by a combination of intense demand, sleepless nights and brutal competition, the four men at the center of L.A.‘s airbrush art market—Charles E. White III, Peter Palombi, Dave Willardson and Peter Lloyd—embarked on careers encompassing work for Playboy, Levi’s, the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart and major studio films including American Graffiti and Tron. Together, their work came to define the look of illustrative graphics for a generation of viewers. This book tells the story of these four artists for the first time through hundreds of images of the artists’ best and best-known work, unseen production roughs, documentary photographs and other ephemera. Viewed now, their surreal, funny and utterly slick imagery seems all the more fantastic—combining technical precision with wild flights of imagination that bring to mind the work of some of today’s top artists, from Takashi Murakami to Matthew Barney. Essay by Mike Salisbury, acclaimed designer of everything from Disney logos to Jurassic Park ad campaigns to Sassy magazine.
My take on the book:
This book is a great look back at four of the artists who in the 70’s and 80’s helped propel airbrushing into a new realm of acceptance. Overspray is an interesting look at the LA commercial art market at a time when airbrush was king. David Willardson, Charles White the third, Peter Lloyd and Peter Palombi produced some of the most stunning album covers, greeting cards, advertising promotional art, movie posters in the 1970’s and 1980’s. From Rolling Stones album covers to Star Wars movie posters I’m sure you will recognize a lot of the art work presented in this book by these four artists.
The book is 224 pages with tons of great pictures of each artists work from back in the day. Even touches on how Iwata got it start here in the US which was pretty cool insight. Very interesting read for anyone interested in airbrushing and well worth the cover price.
Pictured below Dave Willardson’s famous artwork American Graffiti from 1973
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